The invention relates to an information recording method useful in recording video, sound, subvideo, etc. on a recording medium, such as an optical disk or the like, and a recording medium and a reproducing apparatus used with the method.
In recent years, optical disks on which video, sound, subvideo, etc. are recorded have developed to record information at a high density. Playback apparatuses have been developed to retrieve the information recorded. In recording information, such as a movie, on an optical disk, it has been proposed to record story data for multiple stories that proceed simultaneously. For example, suppose brothers A and B pursue their separate courses in life as they grow up, one of them becomes a police officer (the first story), the other becomes a gangster (the second story), and after some time, they meet again and then get along together. This is the type of story data used for multiple stories that proceed simultaneously.
In addition, in recording information, such as a movie on an optical disk, it has been proposed to record the same event from multiple angles to produce simultaneously proceeding multi-angle scenes. For example, a multi-angle scene could have a first scene of a ship crossing over the ocean viewed from land and a second scene of the land viewed from the ship at the same time.
A producer has options of showing viewers the first and second stories in combination, showing mainly the first story to viewers, or showing mainly the second story to viewers. However, in conventional movie production practices, one of the options must be chosen.
The same may be said of the first and second scenes. If viewers were able to choose freely between the first and second stories or the first and second scenes, the producer would have greater freedom in movie production.
In recent years, an optical disk and playback system has been developed in which multiple stories or multiple scenes that proceed simultaneously have been recorded in advance and viewers are allowed to choose from among them.
It is preferable that multiple stories or scenes be recorded on an optical disk in such a way that, at playback time, data will become convenient to handle. Suppose that story data on first and second stories are recorded serially. At playback time, only one of the stories is reproduced, it is required to jump to a storage area for the other. However, if the other story is short, the physical movement of the pickup will be small, causing no problem. If, however, the other story is lengthy, the physical movement of the pickup increases. For this reason, a break or disturbance may occur during video playback.